The present invention relates generally to science laboratories, and specifically to laboratories for the purposes of teaching a scientific topic.
Laboratories for teaching science topics to students at school and college have been an integral part of teaching pedagogy for at least a century. Amongst other aims, teaching laboratories have served the purpose of giving physical reality to theoretical concepts, and have enabled students to become proficient practically as well as theoretically.
In a teaching environment, laboratories demand a relatively large portion of the education budget, from a number of points of view. At the design and construction phases a laboratory has to be purpose-built, with specific facilities, compared to a general purpose class room or lecture hall. Once up and running, the laboratory has to be maintained, for example, equipment has to be bought and/or renewed. In many school situations laboratories are a bottleneck in preparing a timetable, since one laboratory may have to serve many classes and a number of grades.
With the advent of distance learning, problems caused by lack of laboratory facilities have been exacerbated. The problems have been somewhat alleviated by home experiments, often performed with specialized kits, or by students spending a portion of their course time at a laboratory away from their home. However, distance learning, and the growth of networks such as the Internet, have also generated the idea of a remote laboratory, i.e., one which is accessible from a home or a location remote from the laboratory.
Carnegie Mellon University operates a remote laboratory which allows students within the university framework to access remote electrical engineering experiments. The experiments comprise a circuit measurement procedure and a motor control experiment, both of which are interactively performed by students with a computer over a local network.
Oxford University, England, has a Chemistry Information Technology Center which allows students to carry out interactive simulation experiments over the Internet. These experiments are performed by students with a computer interacting via the Internet with the experiment.
The Yorkshire and Humberside Universities Association, England, has proposed developing a shared virtual learning environment comprising one or more remote laboratories. In their proposal, which can be found at http://www2.dcs.hull.ac.uk/SVLE/svlerept.html and which is incorporated herein by reference, they point out some of the problems involved with virtual or remote laboratories. Problems foreseen include the risk that students will be only xe2x80x9cvirtually educated,xe2x80x9d and that xe2x80x9ca keyboard and mouse cannot offer the same xe2x80x98feelxe2x80x99 as real equipment.xe2x80x9d
It is an object of some aspects of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for an improved remote laboratory.
It is a further object of some aspects of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for improvement of the verisimilitude of a remote laboratory.
It is a yet further object of some aspects of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for an operator to be able to operate an experimental setup which is hazardous or inaccessible to the operator.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, an experiment is set up in a remote laboratory at a location physically distant from a local facility wherein an experiment operator performs the experiment. The operator is able to perform the experiment by communicating with the remote laboratory, preferably by communicating via an industry-standard computer in the operator""s location, over a distributed network such as the Internet. Most preferably, communication from the operator comprises commands which alter parameters of the experiment. Additionally or alternately, communication from the operator comprises commands which enable the operator to remotely control experiment-monitoring instrumentation, such as one or more video cameras, which transmit information concerning an overall state of the experiment.
Communication from the operator comprises the operator using one or more local physical controls which simulate and act as controllers for respective remote physical controls within the remote laboratory. The one or more local physical controls comprise a physical representation of at least a part of an experimental setup at the remote laboratory, which representation is most preferably substantially identical in appearance and operation to the actual setup. The controls are used to adjust respective parameters of the remote experiment and/or the experiment-monitoring instrumentation, by correspondingly adjusting their respective remote controls. By using local physical controls, as compared to local simulated controls, the realism of the experiment performed at the local facility is significantly enhanced, so that the operator using the local physical controls is better able to understand and operate the experimental setup. Furthermore, the operator is able to perform experiments using equipment that may be hazardous or inaccessible in a local facility.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, data from the experiment is presented to the operator via a graphic user interface. Preferably, the interface comprises a real-time video image of the experimental setup at the remote facility, as well as controls which enable the operator to alter settings of the controls using a computer pointing device such as a mouse. In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the operator in the local facility is able to access separately a plurality of remote experimental setups, preferably by using a menu included in the graphic interface. Most preferably, the plurality of remote experimental setups are located at a single remote facility. Alternatively, the plurality of experimental setups are located at two or more remote facilities.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, a second operator is able to access the remote facility and observe the experiment performed by the first operator. Optionally, the second operator is able to control at least some of the instrumentation at the remote facility, for example to adjust some of the experiment-monitoring instrumentation. Alternatively, the second operator has physical controls local to the second operator, which controls adjust different experimental parameters at the remote facility from those adjusted by the first operator, and the two operators cooperate in performing the experiment at the remote facility.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, teaching apparatus, including:
an experimental setup at a laboratory site including:
one or more experimental controls for varying one or more parameters of an experiment performed by the experimental setup;
one or more monitoring devices, which capture information relating to the experiment; and
a first communications interface, which couples the experimental controls and monitoring devices to a network; and
a teaching setup at a teaching facility remote from the laboratory site, including:
a second communications interface coupled to exchange data via the network with the first communications interface;
a display, which receives and displays the information captured by the one or more monitoring devices; and
a physical representation of at least a part of an experimental setup, including at least one of the experimental controls, so that an operator at the teaching facility controls an aspect of the experiment at the laboratory site using the physical representation, and receives results of the experiment by means of the display.
Preferably, the apparatus includes a computer at the laboratory site, which operates the one or more experimental controls.
Preferably, the one or more experimental controls are operated by a second operator, other than the operator at the teaching facility.
Preferably, the one or more experimental controls include one of a group of controls consisting of a rotatable knob, a slideable control, and a switch.
Alternatively, the one or more monitoring devices include one or more video cameras which generate one or more images of the experimental setup.
Preferably, the one or more video cameras are operated by the one or more experimental controls.
Preferably, the one or more experimental controls include one or more robot positioning devices which adjust the one or more parameters of the experiment.
Preferably, the display includes a graphic user interface including controls enabling the operator to control the experimental setup.
Alternatively, the graphic user interface includes a graphical presentation of the results.
Alternatively, the computer stores the results of the experiment.
Preferably, the apparatus includes a computer at the teaching facility which stores the results of the experiment.
Preferably, the experimental setup includes a plurality of substantially independent experiments.
Alternatively, a second operator, other than the operator at the teaching facility, controls the aspect of the experimental setup.
Preferably, the apparatus includes apparatus at the teaching facility which is used in conjunction with the experimental setup to make experimental measurements.
Alternatively, the laboratory site is remote from the Earth""s surface.
There is further provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for performing an experiment at a teaching facility using an experimental setup at a laboratory site remote from the facility, the experimental setup including one or more experimental controls for varying one or more parameters of the experiment, one or more monitoring devices which capture information relating to the experiment, and a first communications interface which couples the experimental controls and monitoring devices to a network, the apparatus including:
a second communications interface, coupled to exchange data via the network with the first communications interface,
a display, which receives and displays the information captured by the one or more monitoring devices in order to enable a numerical measurement to be made, and
a physical representation of at least a part of the experimental setup, including at least one of the experimental controls, so that an operator at the teaching facility controls an aspect of the experiment at the laboratory site using the physical representation, and receives results of the experiment by means of the display.
Preferably, the apparatus includes a computer at the laboratory site, which operates the one or more experimental controls.
Preferably, the one or more experimental controls are operated by a second operator, other than the operator at the teaching facility.
Alternatively, the one or more experimental controls include one of a group of controls consisting of a rotatable knob, a slideable control, and a switch.
Alternatively, the one or more monitoring devices include one or more video cameras which generate one or more images of the experimental setup.
Preferably, the one or more video cameras are operated by the one or more experimental controls.
Preferably, the one or more experimental controls include one or more robot positioning devices which adjust the one or more parameters of the experiment.
Preferably, the display includes a graphic user interface including controls enabling the operator to control the experimental setup.
Alternatively, the graphic user interface includes a graphical presentation of the results.
Preferably, the computer stores the results of the experiment.
Preferably, the apparatus includes a computer at the teaching facility which stores the results of the experiment.
Preferably, the experimental setup includes a plurality of substantially independent experiments.
Alternatively, a second operator, other than the operator at the teaching facility, controls the aspect of the experimental setup.
Alternatively, the apparatus includes apparatus at the teaching facility which is used in conjunction with the experimental setup to make experimental measurements.
Alternatively, the laboratory site is remote from the Earth""s surface.
There is further provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for performing an experiment using an experimental setup at a laboratory site having one or more experimental controls for varying one or more parameters of the experiment, while controlling and monitoring the experiment at a teaching facility remote from the laboratory site, including:
providing one or more experimental controls and one or more monitoring devices at the laboratory site;
providing a physical representation of at least a part of the experimental setup, including at least one of the experimental controls, at the teaching facility;
responsive to operation of the physical representation of the experimental controls at the teaching facility, exchanging data between the laboratory site and the teaching facility via a network so as to vary one or more parameters of the experiment;
capturing information relating to the experiment using one or more monitoring devices at the laboratory site; and
transferring the captured information over the network for display at the teaching facility.
Preferably, exchanging data between the laboratory site and the teaching site includes allocating a level of access for the operation of the physical representation.
Preferably, providing the one or more experimental controls includes operating the one or more experimental controls by a computer at the laboratory site.
Preferably, the operation of the physical representation is performed by at least one operator.
Alternatively, capturing information includes generating one or more images of the experimental setup.
Preferably, providing the one or more monitoring devices includes providing one or more video cameras which are operated by the one or more experimental controls.
Alternatively, providing the one or more experimental controls includes providing one or more robot positioning devices which adjust the one or more experimental controls.
Preferably, transferring the captured information includes displaying a graphic user interface including controls enabling the operator to control the experimental setup.
Preferably, transferring the captured information includes storing the results of the experiment in the computer.
Alternatively, transferring the captured information includes storing the results of the experiment in a computer at the teaching facility.
Alternatively, the method includes providing apparatus at the teaching facility which is used in conjunction with the experimental setup to make experimental measurements.
The present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof, taken together with the drawings, in which: